Travel for Ten? Where do you go for a reunion vacation?

This is a year of reunions for my husband and me, as we both mark the twentieth anniversary of our high school graduations. Planning a trip to back to the old school isn’t really that big of an issue, however, because both of us graduated from schools in metro Atlanta. But we are gearing up to travel to a reunion of sorts with about ten of our college friends who are literally spread all over the country.

Several of our far-flung college buddies from UGA now live in Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Brooklyn, Columbia (SC) and Sarasota, while a few of us are still in the Atlanta or Athens area. Some are single; others don’t have kids; and four couples have children ranging from toddlers to middle schoolers. Our family of five is the largest by far.

These reunion vacations began two years ago, with a camping trip out to the Badlands in South Dakota. Last year, the group headed south to Puerto Rico. Because of scheduling issues with other family trips and the cost of flying the five of us anywhere, we have yet to make it to one of these reunion holidays.

The group is presently in the middle of determining the next destination spot for our reunion, and we are really hoping our family will be able to make this one. It has been years since we have been able to see several of these friends.

As you might imagine, satisfying the travel interests of ten very different people – each at different stages of their lives regarding relationships, finances and children – always proves to be complex and interesting. Suggestions have ranged from the exotic and international (Belize and Iceland) to the quasi-international (Montreal and Nova Scotia) to the hip and western (Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Moab Desert) and finally the regional and affordable (West Virginia mountains and good ol’ Athens, Ga.).

I have found a couple of sites, which specialize in arranging travel plans for large groups of people. For instance, Groople.com provides organizations tools for the group traveler, suggestions to help narrow down destinations and even has a “reunion-friendly” hotel finder on its site.

I don’t know where we will end up traveling – or whether our family will be able to go – but I’m grateful for the organizer of our little college reunions. She devotes a lot of time and effort to the noble cause of bringing us all back together.

Have you ever planned a trip like this – whether it’s a family, high school, college or other reunion? How did you balance everyone’s interests in choosing a location? What did you look for in a destination spot?  Where did you end up going? Were you able to get a deal on lodging, etc. because you were bringing in a large number of guests?  Did participants use the three or four-day reunion as a jumping off point for further travels – and did that play a part in your choice of location?

Do you have any good travel suggestions for a band of (late) 30-somethings with a few kids in tow who are looking to get together and reconnect?